OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



373 



from the mountain-side precisely as the portion between the breaks of Haleakala on Maui, 

 the lava flowing on either side of the wedge-shaped fragment. In support of this view 

 a valley running transversely to the Ka-u ridges may be cited, which bears evidence of 

 disruption, and which has received and turned many streams of lava from the mountain 

 above. 



Near Punaluu, along the shore for four miles, the lava is hard pahoehoe intersected by a 

 ridge of clinkers twenty feet high, three quarters of a mile wide, and at right angles to the 

 shore, bearing marks of comparatively recent formation. From its relation to the smooth 

 grassy hills above it, it would seem to have issued from the plain and not from the ridges. 

 More than thirty lava-streams have been counted on this side of the island from Ke^lakeakua 

 to Punaluu, marked by slight differences of shade or decomposition. 



Fifteen miles from Punaluu the fertile soil ceases, and pahoehoe takes its place. Trees 

 still border the pathway, and in several places deposits of volcanic sand are found which are 

 said to have been thrown out of Kilauea in 1790. Here the road branches to Kilauea, 

 whose smoke is clearly seen. In this neighborhood in 1823, the Eev. William Ellis found 

 what he considered a nascent volcano ; deep rents and chasms, from which steam and smoke 

 were issuing, and masses of fresh black lava, scattered on the scorched trees and bushes 

 near by, gave evidence of recent if not continuing action, and the natives told him that the 

 ground had fallen in and the lava was ejected in September 1822. The place is called 

 Ponahohoa, and at present there are no signs of steam or smoke, although the lava 

 looks fresh. It was probably in the track of a subterranean eruption from Mauua L5a or 

 Kilauea. 



Passing again to the shore down a steep declivity two thousand feet high, near a row of 

 cones extending from Kilauea to the coast, the road crosses what the natives call pahoehoe 

 lapalapa — lava that looks like boiling water. It was formed by passing over caves in the 

 older rock, exploding them and raising in this way bubbles and cones, as well as small tracts 

 of a-a. It is very easy to see, even at a distance, where the a-a occurs, as there trees spring 

 up, while the solid pahoehoe forbids the entrance of a root except along the cracks. The 

 former is often covered with vegetation a few months after its ejection in regions where 

 rain falls, but the pahoehoe may remain bare and fresh-looking for centuries. 



Fig. 27. Plan of the Sunken Plain at Kalapanu. Fig. 28. Section of Cliff at Kalapanu. 



At Kalapanu a very considerable subsidence has taken place. A plain a mile wide and 



MEMOIHS HOST. SOC. NAT. HIST. Vol. I. Pt. 3. 



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